Tired
by ItsTheGlasses
Summary: The Doctor is missing, Clara is worried, and the TARDIS is annoying. Basically an excuse for major fluff and cuteness to happen. Whouffaldi (twelvexclara)


Clara Oswald was not happy. The TARDIS was in her flat, yes, as it was Wednesday. That was fine. That wasn't the problem.

The problem was that the Doctor was nowhere to be found. She'd searched her whole flat, and as many rooms in the TARDIS as she could get into. She'd been looking for half an hour, at least. But there was still no sign of the Time Lord.

"You're being really unhelpful here, you old cow." She growled at the wall as she walked, or rather, stomped down a corridor. The TARDIS had done absolutely nothing to help her; all she'd done was allow her access to a few rooms.

Although she knew perfectly well that worrying would do no good at all in this situation, she couldn't help it. What if something had happened to him? Knowing him, anything could have happened. What if he'd gotten himself hurt, and was stuck in a room, unable to call for help? She shivered at the thought.

She cared for that man far too much for her own good. He was so reckless sometimes, throwing himself into danger. That was just what he did. He saved people, planets, galaxies. And most of the time, it wasn't even appreciated. But Clara appreciated him. Even if he didn't know it.

Clara knew that the ship could just have moved the room the Doctor was in to the corridor she was in. That would have been the most helpful thing to do.

Unfortunately, the TARDIS didn't appear to care whether or not Clara found the Time Lord.

So she continued to search for about another hour, until finally, she decided it would be better just to go back to the console room. If the Doctor wanted to be found then he would come out eventually.

Her footsteps echoed as she trudged into the console room, and it made her feel more alone than ever. It was silly, she knew. But she couldn't help it. The Doctor was somewhere in the TARDIS, and she didn't know where.

She felt disappointed. In herself, mostly. She hadn't been able to find him. And that meant that if he was in need of her help, she couldn't give it to him.

However, it wasn't long before her worry turned into something entirely different.

As she advanced up the steps, she caught sight of the Doctor, sitting in his leather chair.

He'd been sitting here, this whole time?! Rage bubbled inside her. All her worry had been for nothing?!

That little- oh, Clara was definitely not happy. Not at all.

"Doctor!" She stormed towards him. "Doctor, do you have any idea how worried I have been?!"

The Doctor's head turned to her as she approached, and just as she got close, her hand raised to smack him, she saw his face.

That wasn't his normal expression... Not the furrowed brows, the calculating gaze, no. This was different.

He looked...afraid?

Her hand lowered. "...Doctor?"

In all the time she'd travelled with him, she had never seen this face look so lost. So uncertain.

"Doctor, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, Clara." His accent was more prominent than usual, something that she couldn't help but noticed she liked.

"Doesn't look like it. Where have you been?" She asked, looking at him with her head tilted.

If this had been the other him, the young him, she might've dared to sit on his lap. But not this him. He would probably flail and squirm until she got off him, she thought with a small smile. It was quite funny to watch his reaction to her touching him, hugging him.

"Just been wandering around." He shrugged. It was a slow shrug, a loose one, like he couldn't really be bothered to put any energy into it.

"I was worried about you," she murmured hesitantly. "I thought something had happened to you."

He looked a little surprised at that. "Really? Well, nothing happened. I'm fine. No need to worry."

"Are you sure you're alright?" She peered at his face. "You look...tired."

"I'm not tired, I'm fine. Time Lords don't really need much sleep."

"Yeah, not much. And I'm willing to bet it's been a while since you slept. Actually properly slept." She raised an eyebrow, waiting for his response to that. By the look on his face, she could tell she was right.

When she looked closer, she could see that his eyes were redder than normal, and his expression was softer too; like he just didn't have the energy to look intimidating. That was probably why he hadn't told her to go away by now.

"I don't need to sleep yet. I can go another week or so." He shifted in his chair.

"Doctor, please. Just go to sleep. You look really tired, and I think you need it." She took his hand, pulling him up from the chair. "Where's your bedroom?"

"I can go to my bedroom by myself Clara, I don't need to be guided there."

"Perhaps, but how do I know you won't just say that's where you're going, and then just go somewhere entirely different and hide there for a while?" One eyebrow raised, she put her hands on her hips. "I'm not stupid enough to fall for that one."

"I didn't say you were, I just-" he tried to think of an excuse that she would believe.

"Never mind." Clara sighed, tugging at his arm again.

The Doctor tried to pull his arm from her gasp, but she just held tighter. It was no use, plus he really couldn't be bothered to keep arguing. "Fine."

Clara couldn't help but smirk with triumph.

Catching sight of her smirk, the Doctor glared at her half heartedly, but they both knew he didn't really mind.

Once she had managed to get the Time Lord down the steps, she began slowly leading him along the nearest corridor, not having the faintest idea if she was even going in the right direction. It was only when they reached a dead end that the Doctor spoke.

"Oh yeah, I just remembered the TARDIS moved my bedroom. It's that way." He pointed in the direction that they had just come from.

Clara resisted the urge to scream in frustration. He really was infuriating sometimes. Both him and his TARDIS.

Rubbing her temples, she gave a sigh, and started in the direction he pointed, the Doctor following slowly. He didn't seem to care that she was guiding him to his own bedroom any more.

When the Doctor finally saw that they were approaching his bedroom, he quickened his pace a little. "That one is my room." He pointed to a faintly glowing blue door.

Clara smiled in relief. "Finally."

He put his hand on the door handle, and glanced at his companion, who was beginning to walk away. His face fell.

"Aren't you...coming?"

"What?" Clara turned back to look at him in confusion. "You mean- you want me to come in with you?"

"..yeah." The Doctor looked down at his feet. After trudging through the TARDIS corridors in search of his bedroom, he'd built himself a nice little image in his mind of what he would do when he got there, mostly involving Clara being there. He hadn't expected her to just...go away.

"Oh." She brightened up considerably, and returned to his side. "I thought you wouldn't want me in here."

"I, well, I just, just wanted- never mind. Just stay with me?" He looked at her, an expression on his face that Clara rarely saw. It was sad, like he was a small child who just wanted his mother. Or in the Doctor's case, his Clara.

Wait.

His Clara? When had she started thinking of herself as 'his Clara'? She wasn't his. And he wasn't hers. No matter how much she'd like that to be the case.

She shook herself out of her thoughts as she followed the Doctor into his bedroom, unable to help the slight feeling of excitement. She'd never been in the Doctor's bedroom before, and admittedly had often caught herself wondering what it would be like.

At a brief glance, the room appeared to be nothing special. A huge bed in the centre, a chair in the corner, a cupboard, a shelf. Nothing extraordinary. Apart from maybe the size of the bed.

But then she swept her gaze across the room again, and it seemed to come to life. The bed was still just a bed, but the Doctor was now sitting on it, and she could already see how the tension was practically melting from him. A small part of her (or maybe the majority of her) hoped he would let her lie on the bed with him, if only to see if it was the bed that seemed to be relaxing him.

The carpet was a dark blue, and very soft when she bent down to touch it. She couldn't help but wonder why the TARDIS never used this kind of carpet in any other rooms; she for one would love her own carpet in her room on the TARDIS to be like this. The Doctor had kicked his boots off, not appearing to care where they landed - the middle of the room. Clara slipped her shoes off as well, tucking them neatly against the wall. After a second of hesitation, she moved the Doctor's boots next to her shoes.

The rest of the furniture looked similar to other furniture she had seen on the TARDIS in other rooms, except for the desk. It had many drawers in it, and she could see a pile of sketchbooks on it. Taking a step closer, she could see that one was was separate from the rest, and laid open in the middle of the desk. Would it be an invasion of the Time Lord's privacy if she took a closer look at it? she wondered. She made the decision and leaned closer, but she was a second too late, as the Doctor was at her side in an instant, snapping the sketchbook closed.

"Sorry." She mumbled, quickly moving away from the desk. Clearly, the Doctor did consider it an invasion of his privacy, since he was shoving all of the sketchbooks into a drawer.

Clara continued to look around the room, her eyes lingering on each wall. The walls were covered with circular patterns, which she suspected meant something, but she decided not to ask. Maybe he'd tell her some other time.

The Doctor moved back to the bed, sitting on the edge, and watched her, looking almost...anxious? There was an air of vulnerability about him as he looked at her, and she wasn't sure exactly why, but there was definitely something that made her want to comfort him.

"Are you going to lie down, then?" She asked him quietly, now finished with her inspection of his bedroom.

"I don't know, am I?" Somehow, he still managed to find away to annoy her, even with the certain insecurity about him.

"Yes Doctor, you are. Go on." She came to sit on the bed with him, one tentative hand on his shoulder. When he didn't move, she gave him a little push down.

To her surprise, he didn't sit there rigidly, he just sort of flopped down, like he'd had enough of sitting up. He was still halfway off the bed, his knees at the edge so his legs were bent over the side.

"Come on, you can't sleep like that. Move." She tried to shift him towards the centre of the bed.

He didn't move, just looked at her. Now she was starting to really see the tiredness in his eyes. He just looked so powerless, that she almost didn't want to make him move. Almost.

"Doctor, please. I know you're tired, but you have to move. Come on." Clara gave him a poke in the side, which made him shift, and glare at her. Unfortunately for the Doctor, he really didn't look very intimidating at all.

She smiled a little at his reaction. "I'll do it again if you don't move."

Eventually, the Time Lord sat up and moved to the centre of the bed, where he promptly laid down again, on his side.

"Can I...lie with you?" Clara asked, uncertainty lacing her voice.

The Doctor didn't say anything at first, so she was worried that she'd gone too far, and regretted asking. She was in his room; that was a step forward as it was. But to actually lie with him? Especially when he didn't even like hugging her. There was no way he'd let her lie with him, was there?

"Alright."

Wait, what? He was allowing her to do it? Clara didn't hesitate before throwing herself down beside him. "Thank you, Doctor." She sighed happily, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

It surprised her when he didn't freeze, didn't squirm or flail or protest or even speak. But it surprised her even more when she realised that he was asleep.

The Time Lord was flat out exhausted, and laid still in her arms, his eyes closed and arms tucked to his chest. Clara couldn't help but smile at him. He must have gone weeks without sleeping for him to be this tired.

After a while, she fell asleep too, content in being close to him. It was nice to see this side of the Doctor sometimes. She felt like she could fall in love with this side of him. Maybe she already had.

* * *

 **Sorry for any mistakes, I'm publishing this from my laptop and it's being reeeeally slow at the moment :(**


End file.
